


Star

by John_Q_Sample



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Forests, Gen, Gifts, Kids, Nature, fae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 08:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18149684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Q_Sample/pseuds/John_Q_Sample
Summary: I've had this OC for a long time - a ten-year-old boy named Star Michael Peterson who genuinely believes in the Fae, due in part to his mother constantly prepping him for a hypothetical introduction with the Fae.





	Star

Like any good parent, Star's mother warned him of the dangers of the Fae and how to protect oneself from the harmful ones.

It was only when he first started kindergarten that he learned this was unique to his own childhood - and that he should not talk to the other students about it very much. Not only are they incredibly judgemental, but it concerns the teachers, which often times earns him a call home.

Nonetheless, Star still believes these fairy tales. He makes it a habit, every Monday evening, to visit the woods on the way home.

His mother isn't exactly aware of this fact.

"I'm walking home, Mama," he explains with his pink flip phone pressed firmly against his ear.

"Are you sure?" Wilhelmina Peterson asks, her voice crackling in through the phone's poor reception. "I'm only at work for a few more minutes. I could easily pick you up."

"No, I like walking."

"With friends?"

"Yeah," Star says, alone.

"Okay. Maybe you should bring them over sometime! I should be home by the time you get there. You always talk about them, but I never get to meet them - "

"They're kinda busy," Star interrupts.

"Alright...Later, then?"

"Yeah."

"I love you, Star."

"Bye, Mama."

He hangs up and puts his phone in his pocket.

A genuine belief in the Fae at the age of ten doesn't exactly earn one popularity; nor does staying silent in the back of the class and reading all the time, rather than talking to people. Star is guilty of both.

He approaches the woods and climbs atop an overturned log that he always likes to climb on. Jumping down, he picks a few small flowers from the dirt below. They're yellow and have several petals each.

Meandering along the side of the bubbling creek, Star gathers a few more flowers and hums to himself a vague tune that he makes up as he walks.

The forest is truly peaceful. It's small enough not to seem threatening, but large enough that there is still some mystery to it. And the proximity to his house makes it even better because Star passes it at least twice every weekday, and often more on the weekends.

There is also a small gate in the middle of two trees. A landmark to help lost children - and a location that always fills Star with an odd sense of wonder, bordering on fear.

He leans forward and drops the flowers in front of the gate.

"I picked these on the way here," he explains to no one in particular.

Then he sits down on the dirt. He opens up his lunchbox and takes out a few small containers he saved from lunch. Procuring a paper plate from his backpack, he sets out some fruit and cheese, which he presumes Fae would like.

Then he pulls out a lined sheet of paper with a drawing scribbled on it.

"Here's what I think a mermaid would look like," he says. He traces his fingers on some details of the picture. "It has gills 'cause it's a fish, and it has those little lights that anglerfish have. I think it would live in a cave underwater."

He places the picture among the other items left for the cave.

After jamming his lunchbox into his backpack and zipping it closed, he slings the backpack over his shoulder and turns to walk out of the forest.

He doesn't see the gate opening, nor the gloved hand reaching for the items, nor the fanged teeth flashing in a proud smile over his son's work.

Star doesn't even know his father.


End file.
